Commitment to Our Future

In an era of serious challenges for low-wage residents, the Center for Worker Justice is celebrating several victories this week – and local community members are stepping up to help support its continued success. On Tuesday, the Iowa City Council voted unanimously in support of a groundbreaking affordable housing agreement, which residents of the Forest View mobile home park negotiated over the past three years with support from CWJ. Read the links from the Vote: https://dailyiowan.com/2019/05/07/city-council-comes-to-three-year-decision-on-forest-view-mobile-home-park/

And as part of its ongoing worker justice initiatives, CWJ staff assisted workers this week in recovering over $1,400 in unpaid compensation for their cleaning work at a local jobsite. CWJ leaders say these victories are also indicative of today’s challenges – while local incidents of wage theft, housing insecurity, and acts of discrimination are on the rise, national grants to support the work of groups like CWJ are becoming more scarce.

Join us our Allies meeting to continue discussing the actions community allies can take to support low-wage workers and immigrants. Through community support, CWJ has been able to assist hundreds of workers to recover over $65,000 in wage theft, create one of the first Community ID programs in the Midwest, and raise the county’s minimum wage to ensure a higher standard of living for our community’s families. We’re currently working on multiple affordable, safe housing campaigns, immigration response, and continued work listening and responding to our community.